#college-football

#college-football

The Indiana Hoosiers edged the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship and were rewarded Sunday morning with a No. 1 College Football Playoff ranking and the invitation to the Rose Bowl that goes with it. Indiana (13-0) will play the winner of the CFP quarterfinal between No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) and No. 9 Alabama (10-3). The Sooners host the quarterfinal game on Dec. 19 at 5 p.m. PST on the Oklahoma campus. The game will air on ESPN and ABC.

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- James Madison athletic director Matt Roan used the public-address microphone to implore Dukes fans to stop throwing snowballs onto the field during the Sun Belt Conference championship game against Troy on Friday night, warning that their actions could cost JMU a penalty. Roan's address to the crowd followed an incident that affected the game. With 4:30 left in the first quarter, Troy's Evan Crenshaw was nearly hit by a snowball while punting from the end zone

Many schools and collectives have started to include "liquidated damages" clauses in their contracts with athletes to protect their investment in players and deter transfers. Georgia is one of the first programs to publicly try to enforce the clause by filing suit against a player. "When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same," athletics spokesman Steven Drummond said in a statement to ESPN on Friday afternoon.

Microsoft is sponsoring a college football bowl game, with the first-ever "Xbox Bowl" taking place on Thursday, December 18 with Missouri State taking on Arkansas State. The Xbox Bowl is the replacement for the Bahamas Bowl, which will not happen this year. In a press statement, broadcaster ESPN--which is carrying the event--said there will be "fun, Xbox-themed moments and in-venue activations designed specifically for the bow." The event is taking place in Frisco, Texas at the Ford Center.

Class of 2026 high school recruits who signed locked into the colleges of their choice for at least the next year. The day's biggest drama will come as Vanderbilt looks to flip five-star QB Jared Curtis from Georgia. There are only eight ESPN 300 prospects who remain uncommitted, notably defensive end Jordan Carter (No. 57), the top uncommitted player, and QB Peyton Falzone (No. 225) who is the lone ranked, uncommitted quarterback. He decommitted from Auburn on Monday.

Due to the early signing period, each coaching change -- both the firings and the hirings -- means that all members of recruiting classes (often 20 to 25 kids) have to readjust and decide (often in just a few days or even hours) whether to stick with their previous decision or try to flip to a new school. And that's if the new coach even wants them.

What's a college football season if you don't end it covered in shame? This year was even more shame-drenched than usual, especially if you held the most heralded position on the field: head coach. This season saw more mid-season coach firings than ever before, a knock-on effect of the arms race to get programs in top condition before the recruit- and transfer-signing bonanza begins.

Remarkably, we're less than five months from Day 1 of the draft, which starts April 23 in Pittsburgh. But plenty can change between now and then. The draft order won't be fully set until mid-February, and the No. 1 pick is up for grabs. The final stretch of the 2025 season, along with all-star events, the combine, pro day workouts and a ton of predraft interviews, will ultimately determine how draft boards will be constructed. But things are starting to take shape.

With the exception of teams that will play for their respective conference championship games, the résumés are complete. While there will likely be some shuffling as a result of what happens in the conference championship games, the fifth and penultimate ranking on Tuesday night will be the best indicator all season of which teams should feel comfortable heading into Selection Day -- and who might need some help.

I think that's exactly what it should do for the love they have for coach Wilcox, Rolovich said. That's the best opportunity they have to really celebrate him as their coach.

"When I put the tape on yesterday, I was like 'Wow,'" Reich said. "This is the real deal. This looks like the best team we've played all year. ... It's an opportunity to measure our program against someone like that."

When you go to the ice box Saturday and open that recycled Country Crock container full of what's left from your Aunt Nancy's artichoke casserole, it reminds of you of Thanksgiving dinner and the laughs shared around the table with family and friends. But it also reminds you that Aunt Nancy is a bit off-kilter, because there are actually three butter containers packed with her gluten-free artichoke casserole that no one ate because she fills it with sliced grapes.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart dismissed backup offensive lineman Nyier Daniels on Monday, a day after he was arrested for allegedly driving more than 150 mph while attempting to flee police in Commerce, Georgia. Daniels, from Newark, New Jersey, faces more than a dozen criminal charges and was being held Monday on $21,000 bond in the Jackson County Jail in Jefferson, Georgia.

Briles, 69, has not worked at a college program since being fired as Baylor's head coach in 2016, following a review of the university's handling of sexual assault allegations made against several football players. He since has had two stints coaching for Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Football League, and at Mount Vernon High School in Texas from 2019 to 2020.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Colorado State quarterback Darius Curry and offensive lineman Liam Wortmann have been suspended for the Rams' final regular-season game for spitting on Boise State players during the second half of Saturday night's game in Boise, Idaho. A video on social media showed Curry spitting at defensive lineman Jayden Virgin-Morgan, who had blocked Curry while a Boise State player returned what he thought was a live ball on a backward pass that hit the ground.

Amid a year in which chaos has been a near constant, preseason expectations have been turned on their heads and James Franklin has gone from No. 2 in the country at Penn State to splitting the dock fees on a pontoon boat with Bud Foster at Virginia Tech inside of six weeks, we had every right to expect Week 13 might deliver some twists and turns we didn't see coming.

Ohio State wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith are not expected to play against Rutgers on Saturday due to lower-body injuries, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel. Tate will miss his third straight game. Smith played in last week's win over UCLA but missed the second half after being seen limping before halftime. Both are considered day-to-day, sources said, ahead of a potential return next week against rival Michigan.

PROVO, Utah -- On the Sunday after BYU's thrilling 24-21 win over rival Utah, a few dozen senior citizens gathered in the courtyard at Jamestown Retirement Community. Two local students and some of their family members put on a concert, with favorites like Brown Eyed Girl, Country Roads and Wagon Wheel played in front of the delighted crowd. Some of those in attendance realized that among the four crooners were BYU teammates Bear and Tiger Bachmeier, who transferred to BYU from Stanford this summer.

Everybody is very clear on what this game means to us, what it means to everybody that's played here before. And what better year to do it than now, at home, with a lot of our fans here? Wright has spent the week reminding younger teammates of the magnitude that surrounds the Big Game and that previous results don't matter after the opening kickoff.

The college football season is teetering between order and chaos. On one hand, we basically have three teams guaranteed a playoff bid at this point (Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M) and another few who simply need to win games in which they're heavily favored to wrap things up (Texas Tech, Georgia, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, maybe Alabama). That doesn't leave many open spots.